Carnival’s Rising Star to be crowned tonight

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

THE anticipation has been building, the votes have been cast, and now it is time for the finalists of the Bahamas Carnival Rising Star Competition to prove they have what it takes to win the crown.

The first major event to kick off the Bahamas Carnival 2023 happened last night with the Hard Fete.

Tonight, the Rising Star finalists will take to the stage during the Insomnia.

Then, tomorrow night, the Amnesia event, starting at 7pm, will see reggae superstar Buju Banton headline.

He will be joined by other soca powerhouse voices, including Kes The Band.

The weekend will culminate with Encore, a cooler fete which takes place on Sunday at 2pm at Arawak Cay.

But first, tonight’s Rising Star will be have to crowned. The artist to emerge victorious will be awarded the opportunity of a lifetime.

Among other fantastic prizes, the winner will get the chance to create a song with an international recording artist. The winner will be crowned at tonight’s event that starts at 7pm at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

The finalists for the competition are Pricklebush (“Calling In Dead”), Ron Jon Jovi (“Road Rage”), Leoneisha (“Not Missing Carnival”), Dale Knowles (“Hitting The Road”), Nice LS (“Outside”), Tripla (“Bahamian Bacchanal”) and Carrington McKenzie (“A.K.O.I”).

According to Corey Hield, who is a member of the Carnival Committee, this year’s event boasts great artist diversity.

“The music is really good and there is a diverse balance between some seasoned musicians and some new artists,” he said.

“This year’s Carnival Experience is going to be an excellent one. We are continuing this (Rising Star Competition) as a feeder programme, allowing people to have their platform or those who really don’t have the resources to have their platform exposed,” he said.

Even though the competition is held during the Carnival season, the committee encourages and accepts submissions representing all music genres created by Bahamians, ensuring a rich and varied representation of the country’s musical landscape.

For this year’s competition, said Corey, judges were looking at specific elements like originality, diction, intonation, vocal quality, rhythmic interpretation, song choice, and asked the question, “Does the music groove naturally, or does it feel unintentionally halting, stumbling, forced, rushed?”

Another new element to the event is the Battle of the Bands that will see professional and high school bands face off against each other in their respective categories.

“Battle of the Bands was supposed to only be professional bands so we figured why don’t we do a high school edition,” said Corey.

“We wanted to create a feeder programme for persons who aspire to be professional musicians and give them a taste of what it actually feels like to be on the big stage.”

Once the winner has been crowned, the night will end with performances by top soca artists Bunji Garlin, Destry Garcia and Fayann Lyon.

For more information, visit www. carnivalbahamas.com.